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Local Sports from The CourierMonday, March 11, 2013Girls basketball: Big Green headed to statestaff writer ELIDA -- Saturday turned out to be a heck of a day for Ottoville girls basketball coach Dave Kleman. It started early, 12:09 a.m. to be exact, when Kleman's daughter, Megan, gave birth to a grandchild in a Cincinnati hospital. It ended with Kleman's 400th career victory and a trip to the state tournament as the Big Green defeated Arcadia 52-37 in a Division IV regional final at the Elida Fieldhouse. Ottoville (27-0) will play Fort Loramie (25-3) at 3 p.m. Friday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. It was a busy day for Kleman. "I've been traveling all night. They live down in Cincinnati so I went down and saw the baby for about an hour, got in the car and came back," he said. "I slept for three hours, went through our walk-through and got another hour or so of sleep." A busy day, but a productive one as Ottoville earned its first trip to the final four since 2007. "It's great, and I know I got my 400th win, but I've really been trying to play that down," Kleman said. "It's not about how many wins I get, it's about the girls playing." Kleman did like the fact he didn't have to wait until next season for the milestone win. "It was like having a no-hitter, nobody was saying anything to me until after it happened," he said with a laugh. Ottoville started the night with a blitz from its outside game. The Big Green took the lead at 5-3 on a Taylor Mangas 3-pointer less than three minutes in, and never relinquished it. Ottoville hit 7 of 10 shots from the floor in the opening quarter, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, in building an 18-10 edge. Arcadia coach Randy Baker said the Redskins (23-4) may be been overplaying Ottoville's post duo of 6-foot-2 Abby Siefker and 6-foot Rachel Beining. Mangas hit a pair of early treys, and Nicole Vorst and Rachel Turnwald hit one each. "We've battled that height all year, and that's a testament to the heart of these kids," he said. "We opened up with Hopewell-Loudon and their 6-4 kid (Danielle Rohrbach). Then there's Leipsic (Amber Gerdeman and Kelly Nadler); it seemed every team on our schedule had at least two people 6-foot or taller. "Ottoville just had a little more outside than some of those teams had, and they hurt us early. We helped maybe too much in the post at times, and they kicked out and got looks and drained the 3-pointers early in the game." The Redskins adjusted, and climbed back into the game in the second quarter. Molly Glick went inside for a layup and followed with a pair of free throws. A Miranda Palmer 3-pointer midway through the second quarter cut the Ottoville lead to 20-17. Arcadia would get no closer. Just as the Redskins got out on the Big Green guards, the inside duo of Siefker and Beining took over. Those two combined to hit 9 of 14 shots; Beining finished with 11 points, while Siefker had nine points and a game-best eight rebounds. Beining was especially effective considering Siefker picked up a third foul early in the third quarter and another early in the fourth. "She's really been in the shadow of Abby all these years, but Rachel works her heinie off just as much as anyone else and she's really getting the fruits of her labor right now," Kleman said. Siefker certainly appreciated the help. "We've really grown as players since we were little, beating up on each other at practice every day," she said. "We both really know how to pick it up and take over when the other is in foul trouble." "She's been there for me when I've gotten myself in foul trouble, so tonight it was my turn," Beining said. Baker bemoaned that Arcadia couldn't capitalize on the time Siefker was on the bench. A Palmer steal and layup midway through the third quarter tightened the Ottoville lead to 31-26, but yet another Ottoville 6-footer, sophmore Annie Lindeman, hit a pair of layups late in the third quarter as Ottoville took a 38-29 lead into the fourth. "We had some opportunities where they had some miscues and turnovers and we couldn't take advantage of them," Baker said. "You get to a certain point in the game, and every possession is gold. We've got to come down and at least get a good look, and we didn't do that at times." Palmer finished her stellar Arcadia career with a game-high 19 points. Courtney Cramer (five rebounds) and Glick each scored six points. Turnwald hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final three minutes and led Ottoville with 16 points. "It means so much, we've been working so hard for this," Turnwald said. "Ever since we were little kids, really, this is all we've wanted. It feels like a dream." It's especially sweeter since seniors Siefker, Turnwald, Beining and Nicole Vorst lost twice at the regional level before getting over the hump. "Stepping on this court time and time again, the goal has always been the same," Beining said. "To finally accomplish it, it's an amazing feeling." Ottoville (27-0) Turnwald 3-6 9-10 16, Beining 5-6 1-1 11, Siefker 4-8 1-1 9, Vorst 2-2 3-6 9, Lindeman 2-2 0-0 4, Mangas 1-5 0-0 3, Landwehr 0-0 0-0 0, Sarka 0-0 0-0 0, Eickholt 0-0 0-0 0, Von Sossan 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-29 14-18--52. Arcadia (23-4) Palmer 6-16 4-6 19, Cramer 3-6 0-0 6, Glick 2-5 2-2 6, Fox 1-10 1-2 4, Kirian 1-3 0-0 2, Dauterman 0-1 0-0 0, Coward 0-1 0-0 0, Mock 0-0 0-0 0, Ball 0-0 0-0 0, Pina 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-42 7-10--37. Ottoville 18 7 13 14 -- 52 Arcadia 10 10 9 8 -- 37 3-Point GOALS: Ottoville 4-8 (Vorst 2-2, Turnwald 1-2, Mangas 1-4); Arcadia 4-20 (Palmer 3-9, Fox 1-6, Cramer 0-3, Glick 0-1, Coward 0-1). rebounds: Ottoville 21 (Siefker 8); Arcadia 22 (Cramer & Dauterman 5). ASSISTS: Ottoville 12 (Siefker 3); Arcadia 7 (Fox 3). STEALS: Ottoville 6 (Mangas 2); Arcadia 8 (Palmer 4). BLOCKS: Ottoville 4 (Mangas 2); Arcadia 0. TURNOVERS: Ottoville 13, Arcadia 13. Radick: 419-427-8405, tedradick@thecourier.com Subscribe to The Courier. |
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